Relative visits W. Palm Beach

 BY BILL DOUTHAT
 Palm Beach Post

 Nine months after Elián González was torn from his Miami relatives, the boy's
 great-uncle accepted tributes and bear hugs Sunday as he made his way through
 the crowd gathered at the Cuban-American Club in suburban West Palm Beach.

 Lazaro González was honored for trying to keep the boy from being returned to
 Cuba. The Miami mechanic remains a symbol of the exile community's struggle
 for a democratic Cuba.

 Six-year-old Elián, who was rescued from an inner tube off the Florida coast in
 1999, stayed with the González family in Miami until he was seized by U.S.
 immigration agents April 22.

 He was turned over to his father, who had come from Cuba to retrieve his son.

 The pain of the early-morning raid on the Little Havana home still lingers, Lazaro
 González said.

 ``We feel sad that he's not with us and can only hope that someday God will bring
 him to freedom again,'' González said before addressing more than 100 exiles at
 the Cuban-American Club.

 Marisleysis González -- Lazaro's 22-year-old daughter, who became Elián's
 surrogate mother in Miami -- did not attend.

 ``Her doctors advised her to stay away from events like this, so that she doesn't
 get overcome with emotion,'' Lazaro González said. ``People cry, and she reacts
 too strongly.''

 The family has telephoned Elián in Cuba, but no one at the home will allow the
 boy to talk to his Miami relatives, González said.

 He said he would not attempt to visit Elián in Cuba while Fidel Castro remains in
 power.

 ``We're not the only ones suffering, because Elián is suffering, too,'' he said.
 ``They are damaging him with indoctrination, and he's still grieving over his
 mother.''

 Elián's mother, Elisabet Brotons, died during her journey to bring her son to the
 United States.

 The club also saluted Delfin González, another great uncle, who was among
 Elián's protectors in Miami. He recently bought the Little Havana home and plans
 to turn it into a shrine for the boy.

 The modest home will become a nonprofit center, called United in Elián's House,
 to help orphaned immigrants and other children, Delfin González said.

 Cuban exiles said Sunday that while the battle over Elián was lost, the
 monthslong struggle brought Cuban Americans closer and drew young people to
 the cause.

 ``We've never seen in West Palm Beach the resonance and outpouring of support
 that we had in defense of Elián,'' said Ernesto Priede, president of the
 Cuban-American Club.

 ``This doesn't end here,'' said Jorge Rodriguez, owner of Miami radio station
 670 AM, one of the sponsors of Sunday's tribute.

 ``We will fight to the finish, until we have a free and sovereign homeland.''